I met Claudio Mazzoli in 1978, when I included him in my photo-journalistic essay about Italians living in Los Angeles who had been successful in Hollywood movies. Click to read Italians in Hollywood and learn about the others.
CLAUDIO MAZZOLI. Spaceship Earth (c) Elisa Leonelli
In 1976, while visiting Los Angeles with his older brother to buy a horse, carrying his design portfolio, Mazzoli met renown costume designer Nino Novarese, who organized an interview with Disney Imagineering (then called WED, Walt Elia Disney). He so dazzled them with his versatile talent and imagination that he was hired on the spot to create artwork for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), their planned theme park in Orlando, Florida, that would open in 1982. He designed the murals for Spaceship Earth about the history of communications, from prehistory to the space age, from cavemen to astronauts.
CLAUDIO MAZZOLI. Spaceship Earth (c) Elisa Leonelli
After 8 years at Disney, Mazzoli worked on designs for Universal Studios, Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Disneyland Paris, Gardaland in Italy.
CLAUDIO MAZZOLI in medieval armor (c) Elisa Leonelli
A unique passion that fascinated Claudio since he was a teenager were the armors of Medieval and Renaissance knights. For a 1975 TV miniseries about Marco Visconti, he built two armors authentic in every detail, and since the stuntmen refused to put them on, because they weighed 200 pounds, he and his brother wore them for the dangerous jousting scenes on horseback. It helped that they were also expert horsemen.
CLAUDIO MAZZOLI in medieval armor (c) Elisa Leonelli
I remember being impressed with Claudio’s amazing work as an artist and his positive attitude as a person. After scanning the slides a few weeks ago, I did some research and discovered that Claudio (born in Mantova on December 15, 1942) was still alive and working. We talked on Whatsapp and he was just as enthusiastic and planning creative projects as he was 45 years ago. An exhibit of several of his paintings, including sculptures and medieval armors, had just taken place in Piacenza, where he now lives. The title was “Claudio Mazzoli, the Fantastic.” Marco Besson, author of an upcoming book about his life, called him “a contemporary Renaissance artist.”